Over half of fundraising directors at the largest 100 charities are now female

More than half of the fundraising director roles at the top 100 fundraising charities in the UK are now held by women, according to new data published today.

According to Fundraising Magazine’s latest Top 100 Fundraising Directors Survey, which was conducted in December last year, 51 of the top 100 UK fundraising charities based on fundraised income had female fundraising directors or equivalent. This compared to 48 which had male directors, with one organisation seeking to fill a vacant position.

The findings showed that the number of women in top fundraising jobs had marginally increased since Fundraising Magazine's previous survey in 2016. That year there were 50 female fundraising directors, compared to 49 male, with one vacant position.

While this is the second consecutive directors survey which has shown more senior women in the profession than men at the largest charities, the gender split is still far below figures for the wider sector; in 2013 the Institute of Fundraising found that over 70 per cent of the fundraising profession is female.

Three quarters of respondents dreading Brexit

The online survey also included a number of questions regarding what fundraising director respondents thought about the future of the sector.

Over 75 per cent believed that Brexit would either significantly or moderately affect their ability to raise funds in the future.

In a question that respondents could answer more than once, more than 84 per cent said they would be looking to invest their budgets more heavily in major donor fundraising in the next 12 months. Half said they would look to invest more in DRTV advertising, while 38 per cent said they would look to invest more in face-to-face fundraising.